Ra'anana Community Kollel - Parshat Lech Lechah 5766

A Lot of Hot Air

Rabbi Dovid Horwitz

In the beginning of the parshah, the Torah describes how Avraham toiled in his hospitality of the three wayfarers, how he ran hither and thither to bring them water, to prepare the breads, cakes and meat. In contrast, the Medrash cites Efron, who, in next week’s parsha, talks a lot but does little. Efron promises Avraham to give him the Maarat Hamachpela for free and in the end he charges him an exhorbitant price for it.

The gemara describes Avraham as one who said little but did a lot, and Efron as one who said a lot but did little. Rav Yerucham of Mir explains that the praise that the medrash heaps upon Avraham is not just for doing a lot, but also because he did not talk about it before or after doing it. Similarly, the criticism hurled at Efron was not only because he did little, but also because he talked a lot. Rav Yerucham asks how it is possible that Efron went from promising the “world” to Avraham only to pull a total about face and rip him off.

The answer is that Efron never intended to give Avraham the burial plot for free. From the minute he laid eyes on Avraham he saw a potential money making prospect. His excessive talk and dramatic speech was all a bunch of hot air to assuage a guilty conscience. He was able to talk himself into believing he was a tzaddik so that his ego was unhurt when his actions spoke clearly against him.

Being a big talker is a true sign of one’s unwillingness to act in the way his conscience and G-d dictate. A person who lives according to his conscience and according to G-d’s moral code doesn’t need to ramble on about how great his deeds are. If his deeds are truly great then all he needs to do is to do them! He doesn’t need to talk about them.